Live FPV Drone at the Opening of the Goldene Henne 2026 for MDR and ARD
72 seconds in one shot – live on Das Erste at prime time, 8:15 pm
On 4 September 2026 we flew the opening of the Goldene Henne, Germany’s biggest audience award, with our live FPV drone. The gala was produced by MDR for ARD in HALLE:EINS at Leipziger Messe and broadcast live from 8:15 pm on Das Erste – in front of 4,500 people in the hall and up to 3.4 million viewers at home, hosted by Esther Sedlaczek and Florian Silbereisen.
After the opening package our FPV drone took over the picture: one uncut flight of around 72 seconds through the set, out over the audience, in wide circles around the stage and straight through the choreography of the DDC Entertainment dancers, which had been built on the timing of the flight. Without a cut, the shot carried straight into the first live act – Take That performing “Relight My Fire” with the MDR Symphony Orchestra. Only then did the first fixed camera come in. Later in the show our new 99g live FPV drone also delivered Spidercam-like pictures during Helene Fischer’s performance.
All of it live, no second take. On site we hand over a 1080p50 SDI signal to the OB truck as usual, while recording internally in 4Kp50; MDR’s vision engineers matched the drone to the other cameras so that on air it runs as one camera among many. The team, as always, consisted of one FPV pilot and one technician.
Rehearsals, safety and trust
A live opening like this is made in rehearsal: Wednesday the staging rehearsal with DDC and the first run of the opening block, Thursday the opening rehearsal with dancers and drone plus the dress rehearsal, Friday at 8:15 pm the broadcast. An indoor flight over an audience also requires clean preparation: operational authorisation, aviation insurance, a flight permit from Leipziger Messe, the landowner’s consent, a secured 3 × 3 m take-off and landing area with line of sight to the drone via spotter, and coordinated radio frequencies for video and control.
Above all it takes a director who trusts a drone with the opening of a live gala. Director Carsten Seibt already knew our pilot from Schlagerboom and planned the FPV drone into the Goldene Henne from the start. Thank you for that trust!
British journalist Sven Herold wrote on LinkedIn after the show: “One shot. No cut. One minute and twelve seconds, live. […] A whole country watched something that could have gone wrong, and it did not.”
After the live FPV opening on “Let’s Dance“, the Goldene Henne is our next step for live FPV in entertainment shows. We look forward to the next ideas.
Credits
FPV pilot: Luca Krämer · FPV technician: Michael Mann · Project lead: Mathias Kohl · Production: Marisa Reinhard
Director: Carsten Seibt · Production: MDR for ARD · Choreography: DDC Entertainment · Music: Take That with the MDR Symphony Orchestra
